The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : Early diagnosis helps save life of three-week-old baby

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jun 09, 2006

Karnataka

Karnataka - Bangalore

Early diagnosis helps save life of three-week-old baby

Sahana Charan

The infant had pulmonary stenosis, which was corrected at a Bangalore hospital using a precision technique

GIFT OF LIFE: The infant who underwent `balloon valvuloplasty' at Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology in Bangalore. — Photo: K. Murali Kumar

Bangalore: Early diagnosis of pulmonary stenosis — blockage of the pulmonary valve, which carries impure blood from the right ventricle of the heart to the lungs — by doctors at Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology (JIC) here helped save the life of a three-week-old baby.

"The baby seemed to be normal," said her mother, Narsamma, from Rajagopalanagar here. "But when we took her for a routine check-up at an ESI (Employees State Insurance) Hospital, the paediatrician informed us that there was a problem in the heart and referred us to the JIC."

Procedure

The doctors at the Paediatric Cardiology Department of the JIC performed "balloon valvuloplasty". A thin wire was inserted into the child's body by making a tiny incision in her thigh, and it was taken to the pulmonary valve where the block was opened using a balloon. I.B. Vijayalakshmi, Head of the Department of Paediatric Cardiology, JIC, said: "The baby would not have survived if she had been brought to the hospital after three or four days.

It was possible to save her by opting for an emergency procedure as the problem was diagnosed early."

Dr. Vijayalakshmi said this was the fifth newborn baby to be treated at the hospital this month.

No scars

"We used a precision technique to correct the problem. The biggest advantage of the procedure is that there is no scar as there is no surgery. All five babies were girls," she added.

She said that in most cases where children had congenital anomalies, early detection was the key to providing proper treatment and saving lives.

Devices such as foetal echocardiogram help detect such anomalies, and they enable parents and doctors make arrangements for procedures soon after the baby is born.

Ignorance

"Most people are ignorant and unaware of the ailment that the child may be having. In some cases, if a newborn is suffering from an illness, the parents and the community may be driven by superstition to use wrong methods of treatment which may harm the baby, instead of going to hospital," Dr. Vijayalakshmi said.

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